1. Field
The disclosed concept pertains generally to enclosed electrical apparatus and, more particularly, to enclosed metering and protective electrical apparatus.
2. Background Information
It is believed that known devices for electric vehicle chargers do not include a meter and a circuit breaker with various options, such as tap lugs, neutral current sensing devices and surge protection devices in a single enclosure. The known devices might include a raintight loadcenter (or residential panelboard) that connects with additional external conduit and wiring to an external single meter socket device. With both of these devices being their own separate specific entities, field installers would employ the two externally connected devices to meet the need for electric vehicle charger applications. Furthermore, a low profile, circuit breaker toggle would likely be under a cover or door. This would not allow for external operation without the use of tools or additional removal of fasteners. Generally, this requires opening the cover or door and exposing the operator to live parts as well as the internal device components to the external environment. Additionally, a neutral current sensor, tap lugs, surge protection, and other options would only be available for field installations. This requires the field installer to either purchase and/or maintain stock of the appropriate components specifically for electric vehicle charger applications or face delays until they secure the additional components.
An external disconnect handle is known to be used in applications such as safety switches.
Fire or rescue personnel need to disconnect distribution power quickly in many cases. Activating or de-activating a circuit breaker at its operating handle is extremely difficult when wearing heavy duty gloves and continues to be an issue for fire and rescue personnel. For example, most circuit breaker operating handles are usually of a relatively low profile and are made for bare hand access. Operating a circuit breaker operating handle with these types of gloves is not generally easy and may require removal of protection that the rescue personnel need.
There is room for improvement in metering or protective electrical apparatus.